Abstract

Effective surveillance is essential to understand pathogen epidemiology
and consequently essential to the development of disease control
programmes. The global spread of pandemic H1N1 and SARS demonstrated the
need for international cooperation in tackling the challenges of
zoonoses, and recent changes to international regulations and guidelines
place increasing emphasis on the need for effective infectious disease
surveillance and response capacities at the national level.

This study seeks to provide advice on future research and funding
priorities for the identification of potential zoonoses hotspots by
critiquing the costs and benefits of surveillance for neglected and
emerging zoonoses and identifying the usefulness of past investments in
surveillance and monitoring systems. To explore these objectives we
review:

where on the global scale human and livestock disease surveillance is
currently conducted;

the evaluation of surveillance systems and options for determining
cost-effectiveness;

issues surrounding the recording, reporting and response to
surveillance data in developing countries;

the use of innovative methods for the surveillance of zoonotic
diseases;

the available data on budgets and costs of zoonoses surveillance.

Both peer-reviewed and grey literatures were considered, with 61 named
zoonosis surveillance systems identified and summarised; 30% and 28% of
these systems included surveillance of only human or only animal
populations, respectively. Developing countries are more susceptible to
infectious disease outbreaks, have less capacity to detect or report
them, and are also least able to withstand the severe social and
economic sanctions and consequences that often follow. However, we found
that the developing world is currently severely underserved by
surveillance systems for zoonoses

The lessons of past investment indicate that the greatest usefulness has
been achieved through investment in core capacities that enhance the
capacity for surveillance overall. It is therefore important that the
best possible use is made of existing surveillance capacities and that
future investment is directed towards better integration of existing
systems and to identifying and filling current gaps in coverage at
interfaces between human and animal populations.

The current gaps in surveillance capacity are predominantly focused in
the developing world and there is a need to address the reasons for the
underreporting in these regions. A key barrier is an absence of response
when reports are made. The provision of a tangible response is essential
to ensuring the sustainability of any surveillance system. To address
global gaps in zoonoses surveillance capacity it is therefore necessary
to prioritise research into the burden of existing endemic zoonoses for
which effective response and control options exist. By investing in
country-level response and surveillance systems that help to control
endemic zoonoses, progress can be made towards tackling the
health/development problems posed by zoonoses, demonstrating the
practical benefits of surveillance and simultaneously helping to fill
the gaps in the capacity of the global surveillance system to respond to
future emerging threats.